“CODE IWP - Commitment to Democracy through Increasing Women's
Participation”
A press conference for the presentation of the new project Code IWP - Commitment to
Democracy through Increasing Women's Participation undertaken by the University of Cyprus co
funded by the Europe for Citizens Program of the European Commission will be conducted on
the 10th June 2015 at the University of Cyprus Conference room. The project is coordinated by
Professor Mary Koutselini, President of the University of Cyprus UNESCO Chair on Gender
Equality and Empowerment.
The project is an initiative aimed at encouraging/increasing the participation of women as voters
and as candidates in both the European and the National Parliament elections. The partnership
is purposefully designed to include three small countries with low percentages of representation
(Cyprus, Lithuania, Latvia) and one model country (Finland) with relatively high percentages of
representation. The project aims to1) provide resources and training “ animation workshops”
for women who aspire to a career in European and National politics, for professionals and
members of the public so as to draw up a model for training workshops and seminars for
aspiring women. The small size of the countries in the partnership facilitate the running of the
research and the construction of the training models; 2) better understanding of the different
voters’ attitudes, reasoning of their decisions, and trends that occur when men and women vote
for a) the European Parliament elections, and b) the National Parliament elections; 2) draw a
comprehensive picture of obstacles to women´s participation in European and National politics,
3) generate policy proposals to overcome these obstacles 4) create sustainable means and
support to the society for increasing Women’ s participation in the European and the National
Parliaments. Parliaments are considered the most important floors for the implementation of
Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment, and voters (men and women) sensitization towards
equality and also towards the social profits from valuing women’s contribution to social,
political, economic , and cultural development of the European Union and the countriesmembers. The low percentages of women’ s participation in the European Parliament according
to the last 2014 elections indicate that short term measures and campaigns just before the
elections are not as efficient as it was expected. In contrary, it is evidenced that changing the
attitudes of the voters-electors is a hard and sustainable endeavor, which includes long life
procedures such as studying the voters’ attitudes, reasoning of their decisions, and trends,
observations, education, interventions and effective proposals and mediation. The activities of
the project include the following:1) A comprehensive review of existing policies, data, research
and theoretical background on the subject of women in politics in general, and women in the
European and National Parliaments in particular. Research will also map current political party
policies and available paths for women who wish to enter politics. The participation of Finland, a
country with high percentages of women’s participation in politics and decision making policies,
safeguards the comparative evaluation of policies, attitudes, and measures, which, although it is
well known that they are not transferable in different contexts, they should enable the
dissemination of good practices and the advantages of equal participation;
2) Built-up of an
electronic forum and website to introduce the project to the public, and which will be updated
regularly in order to inform the public/interested men and women (voters) about the project
and the project´s results. The website will be active during and after the project´s duration, so as
to guarantee sustainability and continuous reinforcement of voters´ attitudes, communication
and discussion. 3) An electronic questionnaire for voters, on the role of gender in voting and
participation. This will help to shed light on context-specific variables for the current democratic
deficit in terms of gender, and it will promote discussion between voters, researchers, and
candidates; It will also allow the comparative investigation of differentiated voting between the
European and the National parliament elections in each participating country, since statistics
indicate that the percentages of women participating in the National Parliaments are lower than
those in the European Parliament. 4) Workshops and seminars for women aspiring to a career in
European politics, for party officials and media professionals. These workshops will provide
training and will develop a model for training gender and politics which may be used in later
circumstances across Europe. The participation of experts from all the sectors (education,
media, political parties, women´s NGOs) will ensure commitment to increase women´s
participation. 8) Production of a CD with a manual of information and advice to be distributed
through the newspaper press, as well as in all the official training centers of the participant
countries. 9) A conference for the presentation of results. 10) The continuous electronic
publications, with highlights from the conference and training materials. 11) Brochures to be
distributed at parties, media centres, NGOs and women´s organization with relevant
information and mentoring advice. The results of the project are research and the provision of
training for women and those who affect the participation of women in politics, such as
representatives from the media and party officials. A set of recommendations for policy makers,
a training model for women aspiring to a career in politics and a volume outlining all of these
will also be developed. The overall aim is to address the gender imbalance in participation in the
European and the National Parliament, promote sensitization towards gender equality in a
democratic state, and contribute to the change of imbalance gender attitudes and trends
during the elections. Important data will be collected, which will shed light in an area which is of
special concern to the European Union. The material produced under the project will form an
invaluable tool for women and other stakeholders. In the long run, the project aims to reach the
overall public by contributing to the democratic life of the Union.
The project's implementation in Cyprus and the cooperation between the different countries is
coordinated by Professor Mary Koutselini. The implementation of the project in Portugal,
Finland, Lithuania and Latvia is coordinated by Professor Helena C. Araujo (University of PortoPortugal), Dr. Mervi Heikkinen (University of Oulu-Finland), Professor Irena Zaleskiene
(Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences-Lithuania) and Dr. Sandra Rone (Riga Teacher
Training and Educational Management Academy-Latvia).
Project's Duration: 18 months